Patient Driven Health Care

Sharing Economy

Xuan Sharon Di, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Constantinos Maglaras, David and Lyn Silfen Professor of Business
Eric L. Talley, Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law

LAST YEAR’S DATA SCIENCE DAY

Columbia’s Data Science Institute held its second annual all-day conference devoted to big data on April 6, and it was information overload in the best sense.

Keynote speaker Dan Doctoroff talked about the revolutionary impact data science will have on people and our urban environment.

—Photo by Timothy Lee Photographers

Attendees got a chance to learn all about key research underway by Columbia faculty and researchers who are leading the charge in this burgeoning field. Disciplines as diverse as engineering, economics, astrophysics, and history were represented throughout the day on data science challenges as varied as gang violence prevention, measurements of urban pollution, kidney disease prediction, encrypted search, and much more.

Speaking to a packed audience in Roone Arledge Auditorium, Columbia Engineering Dean Mary C. Boyce underscored the Institute’s crucial role since its inception four years ago in pushing the innovation, discussion, and education of data science, across multiple fields. “The Institute has really acted to catalyze data science across the University,” she said, stressing that the initiative has ignited faculty and student collaboration. “We’re also transforming the way we do research and the way we teach across campus,” she added, pointing to new programs in data science, including the MS program, a certificate program for professionals, and several new courses in data science. [Rest of Story]

In his keynote address, Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff gave a riveting talk about “the coming technological revolution in cities.” Doctoroff, former CEO of Bloomberg L.P. and a former deputy mayor of New York City under Michael Bloomberg, started Sidewalk Labs to bridge the gap between technology and cities. He said harnessing data science—computing power, sensing, the power of social networks—will have a revolutionary impact on people and our urban environment, essentially developing the smartest of all cities that will lead humanity into the future.